Hello Quartz members –
It’s a big week for the global economy. You can expect to find coverage on qz.com of the US central bank’s expected interest rate cut on Weds.–which would be the first time the Fed has dropped rates since 2008—and Apple’s earnings after the market close on Tues., among other things.
We have a number of conference calls for members lined up this week, including one today with Quartz’s tech editor Mike Murphy about the competitive war for cloud services and other pressing tech industry topics. (Details below.)
I’m interested to hear what topics you’d like us to organize calls and events around—and what questions you’d like us to pursue with our reporting for members. Please shoot me an email at kevind@qz.com and I’d be happy to follow up.
China and the art economy
Our deep dive this week for members focuses on the modern art economy and how China went from zero to global art powerhouse seemingly overnight. Geopolitics reporter Annalisa Merelli reports on what propelled the growth, what kind of art China makes, buys, and sells, and, as with so much in China, what role the state plays.
In 2001, China counted for less than 1% of the global art market. A decade later, it accounted for 30%. A few other numbers offer perspective:
- 6,400: estimated auction houses in mainland China.
- 26%: percentage of global auctions held in China.
- $65,204,489: auction price paid for Zao Wou-Ki’s work titled Juin-Octobre 1985. (There’s more on Zao here, if you’re interested.)
Annalisa looks at the actual art and how it evolved through the market boom, and pinpoints the emerging art scenes worth keeping an eye on. Throughout this week, you’ll have access to new installments on this topic.
Member conference calls
We have three member conference calls scheduled for this week:
- Today (Mon., July 29) at 11am ET/8am PT/4pm BST, Quartz’s Mike Murphy wraps up a busy couple of weeks for tech companies with a dissection of what’s going on in the cloud, why Intel’s selling its mobile chip business, and what we can expect for US telcos, now that Sprint’s merger with T-Mobile has gotten a green light from regulators.
- On Weds., July 31, at the same time of day, Quartz senior reporter Ana Campoy will discuss the future of Puerto Rico following the ouster of its governor.
- And on Friday Aug. 2, also at 11am ET, Annalisa will be available to talk about where the opportunities are in the global art market, drawing on her reporting for this week’s China art field guide.
Join us at this link for the 30-minute members-only videoconference calls. If you’re on your phone, you can call into the conference at either +1 408 740 7256 in the US or +44 203 608 5256 in the UK; for both numbers, the meeting code is 722 994 440. You can ask questions, or leave comments, at any time during the calls.
New Delhi event
For those of you in New Delhi, we’re co-hosting an in-person fireside chat and panel with our partner Chai & Chatter on the future of work on Weds., July 31, and Quartz members are invited to RSVP first. Quartz India’s Diksha Madhok will be moderating a panel with Shashank Murali, Niranjan Nakhate, Sunitha Viswanathan, and Nisha Ramchandani about disrupting present ways of work and building the next great startup.
How to pitch investors
In case you missed it, we published a new video series with Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, about pitching investors.
I hope you’re finding the reporting and activities for the Quartz member community informative and enjoyable—please let me know what else you’d like to see, and what’s on your mind.
Best,
Kevin J. Delaney
Cofounder and editor in chief
kevind@qz.com